Just as I thought the consistently superior jumper, Savigne, won the gold medal. She quickly established her dominance and no other athlete could match her distances. If you look at the most recent history; winning the gold is exactly the place where Savigne should be. The fifth place finish in Beijing is an aberration compared to her frequent high profile victories. Savigne, however, needs to work more on her arm swing to get within the world record.
Apparently, the Cubans have found the secret to triple jumping for women. Gay, the silver medalist, rounded into form just in time. I think, however, that the distances were really weak in this competition, probably due to the swirling winds of the Berlin Olympic Stadium. I don’t see anything special about the jumping technique that shows something new so I am going to assume it is their physical and mental preparedness that got them on the podium. I look forward to seeing if the Cuban men can duplicate the women’s success. I predict it will not happen.
It looks like it is time to close the doors on the “old guard” like Lebedeva. Lebedeva’s form is so difficult to maintain and puts unnecessary strain on her hips and lower back, it is surprising to see her make it this long at the top of the world lists.
The Russian, Pyatykh, pulled a nice jump out but was not even a personal best. It was really a fairly bland competition for Pyatykh. She is capable of jumping over 15 meters but unfortunately, does not seem to have the consistency lately. Anyway, the jumping surface does not seem conducive to jumping far, at least not with the swirling winds.
I hope that the US can put together a new training regimen for the women to get them over the 14m65 mark. It seems silly that we have speedy jumpers without the ability to transfer the speed into distance. US women need to work on power with arm and leg swing if they are ever going to catch the best in the world.
I am really looking forward now to the men’s final…
Mr. Triple Jump 
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